


The Never Really Wake Up

by karrenia_rune



Category: Two of Us-Amiee Mann and Michael Penn (song)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-21 17:06:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18706645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: A pair of twins, a brother, and sister who come from a long line of Irish-Mexican spiritualists gifted with elemental abilities lose their parents in a car crash and now live on their grandparents' farm contemplate love, laughter and everything in between on All Hallows Eve.





	The Never Really Wake Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roguefaerie (samidha)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/gifts).



Nick Thayer ran across the grassy expanse of the meadow with the soles of his sneakered feet all but flying as he ran with his breath hitching in his lungs and the wind whipping his brown hair around. 

He had just finished chopping wood to lay in a store for the coming winter but enough of it had been laid aside for the annual All Saints Day bonfire and feast.  
It was one his favorite holidays and that he and his twin sister, Natalie, always looked forward to, especially in the fall. The only problem was his sister was a bit a handful and while they were both had been tasked with helping their mother with the preparations Natalie was nowhere to be found.

"Figures," he griped out on a puff of breath. "Nat never really was one for domestic chores."

He thought fondly of Natalie's attempts at making enchiladas and how her tortillas would end up looking more like lumpy mounds of dough and his, by comparison, would end up good enough to be photographed in their grandmother's professional food magazine. Despite the fact that Natalie had been taught how to cook from a very young age, Nick was just better at it. 

In the back of his mind, Nick often thought that Natalie did it on purpose just so she can get out of it and go run wild outside. Once a wild child always a wild child,' he muttered aloud.

He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and bent over to place his hands on his knees. He had a pretty good idea of where his sister would be. The big oak where they had built their tree house should not be too far away now.

He smiled and wondered if he could sneak up on her.

Natalie was up in the tree house just as he thought she would be, standing in front of her easel working on a new painting. She had her long mane of brown hair tied up in a messy bun and old smock over her long-sleeved green t-shirt and acid-wash jeans.

The twins both had long brown hair and cinnamon-colored skin and brown eyes, Nat's skin was a bit darker but that was because she spent more time outdoors and in the sun, except when she was painting. Nick had the build and lanky frame of a runner but was more studious. They made a good team.

"Hey, you!" He called to announce his presence. While he had considered sneaking up on her he knew that whenever she was working on her art Natalie hated being startled; claimed that was in the zone; whatever that meant.

"Hey, yourself," Natalie replied.

Nick climbed up the metal rungs of the ladder that had been hammered into the trunk of the tree and entered their hide-out. "What you working on?"

"I'm not certain yet. It was supposed to be a representation of the four seasons and the elements that make them up," she sighed and reached up to rub a handful of hair away from her face," but somehow it's taken on a life of its own.

Nick went over to stand beside his twin in front of the canvas as he studied it; it's twists and turns and splashes of colors made his head a bit dizzy trying to follow it.

"Not sure, but then art's never really been my thing. Actually, I came to tell you that you're wanted back at the house. You're supposed to help with the pumpkin carving and then with setting the table and what not."

"Ugh," she replied mock sticking out her tongue. "Do I have to?"

"Yes, you know how Grandma and Grandpa can get."

"Yes, I do.  
***  
Later that evening at the bonfire the wind whipped the flames around and the heat and the light were welcome on a crisp fall evening. 

Nick was staring into the fire his hands on his knees as he finished downing the last of his hot cider from his mug. 

He was watching the leaves on the trees complete their alchemical change from green to varying shades of yellow, orange and red and wondered if perhaps that this was what his sister's painting had been trying to emulate when she startled him out of his meditative contemplations.

"Do you ever miss Mom and Dad?" Natalie suddenly asked.

"Huh, why'd you bring that up?"

"Dunno, it's just at this time of year I can't help but get, you know, all, contemplative. I know it sounds dumb," Natalie said as she made a mock swat at Nick's arm.

"I thought fall was your favorite season."

It is. Oh, I don't know why I bother."

"It's because I'm smarter and older, and....."

"By 15 minutes," she said.

This was an old argument between the two of them.

"Seriously, what's up?"

"It's just that sometimes I think that maybe our lives might have been different if they had not died in that car crash five years ago and we had not been sent to live with our grandparents."

"I suppose so," Nick replied.

"Do you believe in that stuff we were told as kids how at this time of year the separation between the real world and the supernatural gets thinner and stuff can cross over," Natalie replied. "The Irish used to call it Samhain and Mom's side of the family call it Los Dias de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead."

"Are you kidding me? That's just superstition!"

"So what?" she challenged. "What about all those stories we were told as kids? All those precautions we were told to take against anyone finding out that certain ancestors of ours could 'see, or somehow sense those presences when the veil between worlds got thinner, huh?"

"What are you getting at?" Nick demanded.

"I want to go find the Veil."

"Most definitely not."

"Look, I'm not saying that stuff isn't real, and given what happened when Mom and Dad passed away I guess I take back what I said about this stuff being mere superstition, but I'm also not about to go messing about with it."

"But you're fine with messing about with other elemental stuff," and she illustrated her point by producing a trickle of flame cupped in her palms. 

"Stop it!" Nick chided her. "You know we're not supposed to do that outside of the house or the farm."

She thought about and then let the flame go. "Do you think that's why the kids at school really haven't made much in the way of trying to make friends with us. That they sense that's there is something 'off'' about us?"

"I suppose so," Nick replied. "But you can be pretty stand-offish."

"Be serious, Nick!"

"I am, but you're right. This magic stuff is pretty weird and it just gets weirder at this time of the year."

"So no Veil?' Natalie asked eagerly.

"No Veil. It's too dangerous."

She snorted and looked primed to launch into another argument and her fists balled at her hips and the tension in her shoulders was visible as she fought to push back the emotions churning within her. 

He knew that it was better policy to allow her to work through this, because whenever she got like this things turned to get burned or drenched, depending on the circumstances. He wondered if they, being twins if Natalie had gotten the fire and water magic and he had gotten the other two, spirit and earth.

He, by comparison, was much more level-headed and calm and his own emotions were less visible.

"Fine, Fine. When you're right, you're right."

"What do you want to do instead?"

"I want to go play catch. I know how you love baseball."

"Huh?" Nick replied, surprised. He loved baseball but normally he had to coax her into playing with him.

"Okay, I guess I'll go and get the gear."

Natalie shook her head and changed her mind.

"How about I bring the laptop and we can go up to Mockingjay ridge and you bring some of that hot chocolate and we'll watch it live-streaming."

"You're on," he replied.  
***  
Later up on the ridge. "So, how's the hot chocolate?"

"It's good. I still think I should have convinced you to get the beer."

"I can't stand beer," he said.

"Light-weight," she teased him.

He made a mock injured face and then said: "Besides our grandparents would have skinned us if they knew we were sneaking beer."

"I love this ridge," she said.

"Yeah, I know," he replied. "Hey, for what it's worth, If I had to have a twin sister, you're not so bad, warts and all."

"Oooh, that's sweet, do you use that line on all the girls?"

"Unlike you, I actually had a girlfriend."

"Keyword 'had."

"Do you always have to be so difficult and confrontational?"

"I guess," she replied. "I am really that bad?"

"No, but you could work on it."

"Love you, bro," Natalie replied softly as she pushed over to his side and placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes as she fell asleep. "Love you, too, Sis."


End file.
